Scheduling with Mexico and Colombia: The Latin American Time Zones That Aren't Brazil
Brazil gets most of the attention in Latin American scheduling discussions, but Mexico and Colombia are easier to work with — both sit close enough to US time zones that overlap is rarely a problem.
Mexico City (UTC−6 / UTC−5)
Mexico City runs on the same offset as Chicago for most of the year, which makes scheduling with US teams very manageable.
The catch: Mexico observes DST, but on different dates from the US. Mexico moves clocks on the first Sunday of April — about 2–3 weeks after the US moves on the second Sunday of March. During that gap, Mexico City is one hour further from New York than expected. This is a recurring recurring-meeting problem: set it up in winter, and it’ll drift by an hour for a few weeks each spring.
Exception: Sonora state doesn’t observe DST. If your contact is there, they stay at UTC−7 year-round. Use America/Hermosillo rather than America/Mexico_City.
| Your location | Overlap with Mexico City (9am–6pm CST) |
|---|---|
| New York | Strong — near-identical hours in winter |
| Chicago | Same time zone in winter |
| San Francisco | Very good — mornings align well |
Colombia (UTC−5)
Colombia Standard Time is UTC−5, the same as Eastern Standard Time in winter. Colombia does not observe DST. When New York moves to EDT in spring, Colombia doesn’t follow — so a recurring noon EST call with a Bogotá contact will appear to shift to 11am Bogotá time in summer. Bogotá didn’t change; New York did.
This catches people regularly. If you have a recurring US–Colombia call, check it after the US spring clock change.
| Your location | Overlap with Bogotá (9am–6pm COT) |
|---|---|
| New York (EST, winter) | Same time — full overlap |
| New York (EDT, summer) | One hour off — but still very good overlap |
| San Francisco | Mornings work well |
Key holidays
Mexico: Semana Santa (Holy Week) sees reduced business activity. Independence Day (16 September). Day of the Dead (1–2 November) is widely observed even though it’s not an official holiday.
Colombia: One of the most holiday-dense calendars in Latin America — 18 public holidays per year. Many mid-week holidays are moved to the following Monday. Key dates include Independence Day (20 July) and Battle of Boyacá (7 August).
Use meetwhen with America/Mexico_City or America/Bogota, and watch the spring DST gap for Mexico.
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